Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Marines Visit Monrovia

{4th Marine Logistics Group members receive a briefing at JFK Hospital in Monrovia from Master Sergeant Carlton Lewis the Senior Medical Mentor with the AFL (on the right)}

The 4th Marine Logistics Group visited Liberia in late May (18-21) 2008 to determine how they might contribute to humanitarian assistance projects and investigate opportunities for military-to-military cooperation with the Armed Forces of Liberia. They visited several sites around Monrovia including the Port of Monrovia, humanitarian assistance projects which the Navy Seabees worked on from March to June 2008 as part of the Africa Partnership Station, JFK Hospital in town and EBK Military Barracks along the Roberts Highway outside Monrovia.

The 4th MLG will be the first unit to conduct military-to-military cooperation with the new Armed Forces of Liberia. Marines hope to conduct initial training with mobile training teams as early as August 2008 at EBK. This will mark a significant milestone in the development of this new army, as the AFL is now beginning to reach the stage where cooperation and training with foreign militaries is possible. The initial Marine efforts will be small land intended to test the waters so to speak. This is really about a proof of concept and an effort to get these sorts of activities going now rather than waiting until a couple of years from now when the full 2,000 soldier army is ready for operational status (likely to be in 2010). The initial cooperation will center around two activities at EBK; supply training and civil affairs.